The main reason why we (everyone, in fact) goes into business is to make money. That is blindingly obvious. What isn’t so obvious is the chance to provide your customers with a level of satisfaction they cannot get anywhere else, and the feeling of your own satisfaction when you know you’ve done just that. This is the reply we got from one of our customers and it just made our day just that much better. 🙂

Hey Jonas!!! Came back late from work and tearing apart your package is the first thing in mind! After dinner it was straight handwash to package tearing.. and here my thoughts on them! And some pictures for you as well! I’m a happy man today 😀

DSA Profiles

Sneaky, I wasn’t expecting any DSA blanks thinking that they may be lost under your pile of cables or keyboards! 😛 Thanks a lot for those DSA blanks man! You sure you’re not using any of them?

The DSA profiles are interesting. They change the feel of the keyboard significantly – with MX Browns the change is very, very different. But I have mixed feelings about it.. some strokes feel nice, a shorter distance to actuation/tactile bump, but some strokes barely give a tactile bump feel. Almost feels like a soft, soft membrane keyboard 😦 Oh, sometimes it’s hard to get the wire puller in place because of the larger base of the key. Some keys are tight!

I may buy a cheap set if I’m in luck. Probably gonna try them on my friends’ keyboard that’s using MX Black. Probably a more different feel on linear switches. Maybe I can convince him to switch to DSA profile.. then I can have more to experiment with 😛

Novelty Keycaps

I’m enjoying the looks of PANIC on the ESC, Zoidberg of Disapproval on F1 (That’s the look I get when I accidentally hit F1 in spreadsheets, documents, browser.. -_-), and AwesomeFace on PrtScn – I always use PrtScn when awesome things happen on screen, like breaking a WPM record for instance 😛 Being the only red keycap in the row makes the keycap seem smaller than it should, that’s also a fun thing to look at 🙂

Seems like all of them are using doubleshot printing.. with AwesomeFace having the smallest thickness and PANIC with the highest thickness. From your experience, how fast do you think they will fade if I place them at some keys with higher traffic, say DEL or F5?

I’m thinking, should I get one set of cheap Doubleshot ABS keycap or save up to buy Imsto’s Thick PBT Cherry keycaps. What do you think?

Closing Remarks

Nice doing business with you man. I hope your business will grow along your passion for mechanical keyboards. It ain’t easy with so many vendors around offering competitive prices, but are passionate and very helpful – something that many vendors lack. Really, GLWS! Will spread more poison among my friends J

Updates been slow in coming cause I’ve been personally busy with another project not related to WASD. Here, I should mention I’m only running this business part-time and have a dayjob. So, yeah.. 😀

Besides that, there’s been a few new stuff that we just got recently, and since we don’t have much to update (we actually do but we’re saving it for another time under the modifications page. heh), here’s a picture of all the ready stock items we have.

Mice:

Also, before i forget, we’ve added a new page with 1 (more to come) subpages. The modifications page is our go to guide for all of you who wanna have a hand at tinkering and modifying your mechanical keyboard. Note that this will usually void you warranty and we will not be held responsibility for anything that happens.

As usual, we’re lonely and look forwards to any comments you guys might have. Hit us up on our facebook page as well! 😀

Been a hella long week for me on a personal note, but here at WASD Peripherals, it’s been quite awesome. 😀

We got a few shipments this week (expected more, but only got a few), and here they are:

The first package came all the way from England, ladies and gentlemen. And this is what’s inside:

These are all for sale, each set of 4 keycaps (QWER/ WASD/1234/Arrow set) being RM 50, and a set of 8 keycaps would be RM 90. So far we’ve sold 12 keycaps, and only the Orange/Black WASD, Arrow Set, and 1234 as well as the White/Black WASD and 1234 are available.

Package No.2 is from China, is so far proving to be pretty popular.

These are the Dota 2 and Starcraft 2 keycaps. These will look simply AWESOME on your escape key, so get them before they’re all sold out!

Black and White Dota2 Solid Keycaps are RM 15 each.

Dota2 and Starcraft 2 Keycaps with shine-thru are RM 20 each. Show your support for your favourite SC2 faction, or get them all if you’re a hardcore SC2 fan! 😀These let LED backlighting shine through, so they look even better!

More pics later, promise! 😀

Package No.3 is something we’re super excited about, and hope all of you are too!

LED covers for your mechanical keyboard 😀

Unsorted (even though they look sorted)

The Sorting (hat)!

Sorted!

These will turn your backlit mechanical keyboard into a multi-coloured plethora of rainbow puke! 😀 For best effects, we recommend using these on white LEDs, but other LEDs will also fit, but the end result might not be what you expected. Here is what they look like on Magenta LEDs. THANKS r/mechanicalkeyboards!!

Here’s what they look like on a White backlit CM Storm QuickFire TK!

Orange

Green

Red

Purple

Blue

Pink

Yellow

Told you there’s more pics of the keycaps! 😀

The top row is to show what a normal white LED backlit keyboard looks like, and the bottom is with LED covers. Note that the LED covers DO dim the LED slightly, but since most backlit keyboards have faily bright LEDs, this shouldn’t too much of an issue.

The LED covers are now for sale @ RM 7 for a pack of 10, and we will help you put it in if you need it. You’re also welcome to try them on your keyboard before buying it. No point buying something that you don’t like. 😀

Another week, another shipment, another keyboard to look at. At least for us 😀

This coming week, we’ll have a few shipments coming in, one of which is a shipment of keycaps that we (and you guys as well, we hope) have been quite looking forward to. We won’t reveal what’s so special about it just yet, but expect Progress Update 5a to be up when it’s here. 😀

Besides that, we’re pretty keen on bringing in some Zowie Gear, but we’re hesitant to do so without any support from you guys. YES, YOU GUYS. So for those of you who want or are looking for Zowie gaming gear, especially the Zowie FK mouse, let us know. WE want to get to know YOU. 😀

Now, here are some keyboard pictures to keep you happy in the meantime. 😀

Purple-y goodness

The Ducky Premier Limited edition, available soon. It’s a hate or love thing.

CONGRATULATIONS to the winner of our 100th “Like” Giveaway event, MrAdrian Teo, from Swinburne University! He won a Steelseries QcK Mini Mousepad worth RM35. We have another giveaway planned when we reach 500 Likes, so make sure to have your friends like our page for exclusive information on gaming gear right here in Kuching! (We promise to give away at least a mouse this time :P)

Look at his huge smile! 😀

Also, we would like to announce that we have added another demo unit to our stable of keyboards! Introducing the Deck Hassium Pro, which retails at RM 459-479. This keyboard is Deck’s challenger to the Ducky Shine 3, with 9 programmeable LED scripts, and a few typing modes imcluding “Explosion”, “Fading” and “Ripple” effects. Look for the Honest Review of this unit in a few weeks (or months).

As usual, we would love to hear from you guys, so leave a comment on our Facebook page!

Here at WASD Peripherals, we try to provide you, our customers, with as many choices as possible when it comes to gaming peripherals. In line with that, we are proud to present to you guys the latest brand we carry, Zowie Gear!

Zowie Gear is a relative newcomer to the gaming peripherals scene, but that does not mean that they are not good. Far from it, Zowie has been accepted by professional competitive gamers. In fact, their products are no-nonsense products designed with professional gamers in mind. Thus, you won’t find fancy designs or shapes when you browse their products. Their products are made with a purpose, and that purpose isn’t JUST to look (although they look pretty nice if you’re into minimalist designs).

The Zowie FK is a truly ambidextrous mouse as even though it has 7 buttons (3 top, 2 left, 2 right), only 5 can be used at any one time. You can choose to use the 2 left buttons (for right-handers) or the 2 right buttons (lefties) exclusively. This means less accidental button presses on buttons you’re not using. Furthermore, all Zowie gaming mice come with Zowie’s patented optical sensors which are as accurate, if not more so, than higher-priced brands.

If you’re looking for a brand catered to serious gamers on a budget, look no further.

Zowie. Strive for perfection.

WASD Peripherals

The Zowie FK is priced at RM 220, first shipment reaching Kuching will be in 2 – 3 weeks. Pre-order now to get your Zowie gear.

We’ll be taking a brief hiatus while we sort some *stuff* out and once that’s done, we’ll be back with some SPECIAL announcement 😛 heh.

In other news, we’re in the midst of giving away a brand new Steelseries QcK Mini mousepad in conjuction with out 100th Facebook page “Like”. It’s not much, but it’s to show our love to all YOU guys! 😀 To join, make sure you “like” our page at fb.com/wasd.peripherals, and comment on the giveaway post with the next number in sequence, your favourite gaming brand, and why its your favourite. Once we hit comment number 100, we’ll roll the dice, and one lucky commenter will win the mousepad. Right now, we’re up to number 23, so there’s still more slots for you to join, if you haven’t.

As always, we’re always happy to receive whatever enquiries you might have, so hit us up on facebook or email us. 😀

Honest Reviews: I will mostly be doing reviews about products which i myself am selling, so you might think that i am biased and….. i cannot refute that. However, i feel that my reviews will be more about what you will get if you buy these products, and less about OMFG THIS IS SO GOOD MUCH WOW PLS BUY. just sayin’.

Let’s get to it!

This time, we’ll be doing the review of the CM Storm Quickfire TK. I’ve had it for a relatively short period of time (~2 weeks), but in those 2 weeks, I’ve gotten to know this keyboard quite well as I’ve been using it quite often for the sake of Keyboard Science (thumbs up if you get that reference! :P).

Unboxing

‘

Front and back of box, as well as the MX Switch sticker. MX Browns is the order of the day here.

Standard packaging for a keyboard, though the polyesterene (I assume) sleeve is a bit thin.

Our first look at the keyboard in all it’s glory. The font on this (and most CM Storm boards) is somewhat futuristic, and not everyone likes it. I’m somewhat impartial.

Closer look at the font.

Completing the unboxing, the remaining contents of the box. A gold plated USB plug with a braided cable, a keycap puller and a user manual.

First impressions are always important

Upon taking her outta the box, the first thought i had was how light it was and that it felt… (i hate saying this so much) “cheap”. Other users might, and probably will disagree with me, and that’s perfectly fine but….

I dont know how else to put it but somehow, it feels “cheap” compared to my Rosewill. For one, it’s much lighter than i expected it would be. I thought it was only because it was smaller, that’s why it was lighter, but was proven wrong when i had a look at an acquaintance’s Filco Majestouch 2 TKL. That keyboard was much much heavier than this. Another thing I didn’t like was that they keycaps felt.. “plasticky” or “finickky”.. However, i must put a caveat here that this is coming from using a doubleshot PBT set, but well.. I guess it’s just my opinion. Frankly, there’s nothing wrong with it, and the keyboard itself is perfectly fine as is.

The proof of the pie is in the eating

As is the proof of a keyboard is in the using. Here are some of my thoughts on this keyboard after using it.

The Good

One of the things I liked about this keyboard was the cable management system accomodating the detachable mini-USB cable. While this is present on most keyboards and most would consider this as nothing special, coming from a bare bones Rosewill board, I like it. Also, the recessed mini-USB hub is something I really like. This is because I plug and unplug the keyboard numerous times a day and the recessed hub holds the cable more firmly in place.

You can go straight out, left or right. Options are ALWAYS nice.

The recessed mini-USB port.

Besides that, this keyboard also has a standard US ANSI layout (as far as the lack of arrow and 9-key cluster goes). This a a definite plus for me as I switch between keyboard often and like using the same layout. For people who only use one keyboard, however, this would also be a plus for you as it is much much easier to find replacement keycaps for standard layouts as compared to non-standard layouts (Corsair Mechs). But if you have no intention on changing keycaps and are just sticking to one board, this wouldn’t really matter to you.

Another thing I like about this keyboard is the size. It is great for gaming, as it brings your hands closer, thereby reducing fatigue. However, when using the numpad/function cluster combo, I have to say this. I AM NOT A FAN OF IT. The reason being that when i do data entry on excel (the only time i use the numpad), I use BOTH the arrow cluster and the numpas numbers. On the TK, you have to hit the NumLock key when alternating between the 2 modes. It gets a while to get used to this, but if you don’t like it, you just dont. You can work around this by using the TK pad (let’s start calling it that) as the arrow and function cluster, and using the number row above your alphabets to key in the numbers, but you might as well get a true 80% TKL keyboard then.

The Bad

One thing I would love CM Storm improve on this (and in fact, most of their boards), is to do away with the “rubberish” finish on their keyboards (Ultimate, Rapid, TK, XT) and use a smooth finish. The reason being that a smooth finish is considered by most to be superior as the “rubberish” finish tends to wear out after much use and it becomes a smooth patch. BUT, if you like it (and I know for a fact some people do), then this would be to your preference.

Having rubber around is always safer tho. ;P

Besides that, the TK pad can be a love or hate thing as I mentioned earlier, so if possible, try and imagine yourself using one before buying it so you don’t regret spending 300-odd ringgit on this. Do this by ONLY using the numberpad or ONLY using the arrows at one time. If you find you can’t help using both, then I wouldn’t reccomend this keyboard.

The TK pad in question.Like your girlfriend, make sure you like her before committing yourself.

Other points

To each man his own, and what I don’t like might be something you guys love. Like I mentioned in the unboxing, I was surprised at how “light” this keyboard was, at “only” 800grams. While I personally like a heavy sturdy keyboard, I admit that it’s not conducive for someone who’s on the go. Thus, for those of you who bring your keyboards with you around like a lost puppy, you would definitely like it being not so heavy.

Besides that, another thing I’m not too fond of is the Cherry stabilisers being using on this keyboard. Personally, I prefer using CoStar stabilisers simply because they feel… different?

CoStar stabilisers above, Cherry stabilisers below.

CoStar wire stabilisersCherry Stabilisers

But Cherry stabilisers are much much easier and convenient to swap keycaps on compared to CoStar stabilisers as you just remove the keycap without needing to push and prod and wires, so they have that going for them. But this is totally up to your preference, so read this with a pinch of salt.

Conclusion

Some background on this keyboard. This mech is one of, I would say, CM Storm’s “signature” keyboards as it features the TK layout. This TK layout combines the arrow cluster as well as the 9 function keys abv the cluster with the traditional numberpad as you see above and is generally not made by other people, exception being the Razer Marauder a few posts back. This makes the TK pad probably the ONE reason you might wanna get this keyboard (if you want a full sized board, get the Ultimate; if u want an TKL board, the Rapid). Knowing that, my one piece of advice is to make sure you like the layout before getting this. Quality wise, nothing much wrong with it. Solid backlit keyboard with Cherry MX switches. There are better boards out there, no doubt, but there’s worse as well. CM Storm makes some of the best value-for-money mech keyboards around, and that’s a fact you simply cannot run from.

TL;DR

Solid keyboard with Cherry stabilisers, MAKE SURE YOU LIKE THE LAYOUT BEFORE BUYING, if you do, no reason not to get it.

The CM Storm QuickFire Rapid is available from us at RM 339 for MX Brown switches, and RM 369 for MX Red (no stock – March 2014) switches.

Honest Reviews: I will mostly be doing reviews about products which i myself am selling, so you might think that i am biased and….. i cannot refute that. However, i feel that my reviews will be more about what you will get if you buy these products, and less about OMFG THIS IS SO GOOD MUCH WOW PLS BUY. just sayin’.

Lerooooooooooyyy Jenkins!!

Unboxing

Box front

Box back

The features. Will talk more on that later.

The first sight upon opening the box. My first thought was “IT COMES WITH A KEYBOARD COVER! ! <3”. No, I’m serious, I was stoked seeing that keyboard cover. Do you know how hard it is to find one here in Malaysia?

The booklet is the only other item in the box that comes with the keyboard, and it explains how you turn off the backlighted spacebar and how to turn of the Windows keys and function key. Pretty succint.

First impressions best impressions

Full frontal pic of the keyboard

How it looks from behind

Keyboard of Chinese Origin.

This keyboard comes with a normal, non-braided rubber cord. Definitely a (-) for a RM169 keyboard. =(

Pretty neat feature is this: cable management system which allows the cable to be routed so that it exits the keyboard to the left, centre or right. (+)

Note the rubber feet both on the base and the height adjuster. This means no matter what height you like your keyboard to be, the rubber feet are there for you. (+)

Even without the braided cable, it still comes with a gold plated USB plug. A good thing, even if it’s solely for the aesthetics. (+)

This keyboard comes with a pretty unusual font, which some might like and others hate. According to our in-house graphics team (I jest! We don’t have one!), it’s an Egyptian-ish font, which is kinda cool. I like it, but at the end of the day, its just a font, so no biggie.

More on the font. Also, holding the PrtSC button toggles the backlight for the spacebar’s backlight, which is the only backlight on the keyboard, aside from the usual LED indicators.

Pretty attractive/sporty red stripe goes all around the keyboard.

Delve deeper, we must (Wall of text ahead)

So I’ve been using this keyboard for a while now and several things pop out, some good, some not so good.

I guess bad news is always preferable first, so here’s the ugly:

Dem feels

The keyboard is marketed and tagged as a “tactile” membrane keyboard with the POM guide sleeves for each key, but I was severely underwhelmed by the feel of it the first time i tried it. However, bear in mind that I am comparing it to a actual tactile mechanical keyswitch which costs quite a bit more than this (double, in fact), so that comparison would be unfair, to say the least. Still, to market it as a “tactile” keyboard, I expect more tactility.

To play devil’s advocate here, let me give some feedback from other people. While the general consensus is that the keyboard feels similiar to normal rubber domes, a slight minority claimed that the K10 feels better and much more tactile than their rubber domes. Generally, they were coming from using older rubber domes, so I guess this keyboard would be much better than theirs. Still, all this is qualitative and cannot be quantified, so I guess it’s to each person their own.

Let there be ligh….. no?

For RM 169, I would love to see more LEDs on this keyboard. There are a total of 5 LEDs on this keyboard, and 4 of them are indicators. As mentioned above, this keyboard ‘s only decorative LED is under the spacebar. But this is an aesthetics thing, and I’m not too bothered by it.

DAT layout

One really annoying thing about the keyboard is that it has a standard layout EXCEPT for 3 keys, the “Enter/Return”, “Backspace” & “|” key. The enter key is super huge and takes up more space than is necessary. Not sure is this to make the logo on the key more noticeable or what, but this forces the “|” key. which is usually below the backspace and above the enter key, to be moved to the same row as the backspace key. This forces the usually “1×2” sized backspace key into a “1×1” size. This makes me constantly miss the Backspace as I usually hit the Backspace right in middle. For someone who switches between a few keyboards (part of the job :P) quite regularly, this annoys me to no end. However, if you only use one keyboard regularly, you could deifnitely learn to re-adjust your typing to this keyboard. Still, being one of the most commonly used-keys, it would make sense to make it larger.

Replaced the backspace key to at least make it FEEL different,

Now that we’re done with that, onwards to the good:

Yo momma so fat….

…that if she sat on this keyboard, she’d break. This keyboard is made pretty darn well. Feels really really solid, and pretty heavy as well. Part of this could be attributed to the fact that this keyboard has a “support plate” (so it says on the packaging, but I’d assume its a metal) underneath the membrane layer, but keep in mind that not ALL keyboards with backplates feel solid.

Cherry MX Keycap compatible

One of the really really (welcome) surprises about this keyboard is that the POM guide sleeve is actually compatible with Cherry MX keycaps.

The POM guide sleeves.

Replaced with iKBC Doubleshot PBTs from my RK9000.

In my personal opinion, this should be one of THE selling points that i-Rocks should emphasize. There are some people out there who love the looks of mechanical keyboards with custom keycaps but couldn’t care less about how they feel. This keyboard would be absolutely perfect for them, with several conditions. ONE, the keycaps they choose should be generously normal sized or big so that there’s enough clearance for the squarish raised borders/supports around the keycap stem. TWO, the keyboard uses normal rubber-dome stabilisers, so those keys using stabilisers (Enter, Space, Shift keys, the longer Numpad keys) would be be replaceable. Still, most people only want to change a few keys, not all, and changing all the alphabetical keys would be enough to give a keyboard that “cool” factor.

Actually has 30-KRO

This feature actually trumps most mechanical keyboards as most mechs only have 6 or 8-KRO over USB. The K10 has a whopping 30-KRO that i tested over keyboardtester.com, which is really really good. While it’s not something you would ACTUALLY use, it’s pretty cool and definitely a good thing for all those gamers out there.

No more hitting windows and getting flamed by your “friends”

You can easily disable the windows and right function keys whenever you’re gaming by just holding those buttons down until the “win lock” indicator lights up. Another good point for all of you to keep i mind.

The Dust Cover

I’m not jokin’, some 400ringgit keyboards don’t even come with this.

Now, to wrap it all up…

One last point that I have to point out is that this keyboard comes with stock PBT keycaps. While PBT keycaps are generally regarded by the keyboarding community (not sure if it exists) as the best material keycaps can be made out of as they feel better, the PBTs on this keyboard are pretty thin.

Right to left : iKBC PBT, SP ABS, i-Rocks PBT

For most of you out there, if you don’t understand what the initials are, then it doesn’t really matter to you. But for those of you who do, the PBTs on the K10 almost bear no significance because PBTs only matter when you bottom out on your mech switch, and bottoming out on membranes feel the same no matter what they keycap is made of. To be totally honest, if i-Rocks made these with ABS, pretty much no-one would mind, and they would(should) save some costs by doing so. This is something that I personally feel, but could be subject to everyone’s personal preferences. Good for them for using PBTs, but at the end of the day, totally unnecessary.

So..

Whether you like/love/hate this keyboard and what you think of it, I would say, totally depends on what you are looking for in a keyboard. If you’re looking for a solid keyboard to type on but don’t care about mechanicals, this is just perfect for you. If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to a tactile mechanical keyboard, stay away. If you’re looking for a gaming keyboard which is durable, but don’t need media/macro keys or fancy pansy backlighting, pretty good buy as well as not many rubber domes give 30-KRO. If you’re looking for a keyboard for which you can change a few keys to make it personal, this would be awesome. At the end of the day, it’s what you want from a keyboard that really decides if this is a good buy or not.

My personal opinion is that its a pretty solid keyboard, but just not for me.